Sarah Smurr commented on: Group 3 and Group 4.
Jennifer Warrner commented on Group 1 and Group 3.
For this assignment:
Sarah Smurr and Jennifer Warrner collaborated on the section about Dr. Rachel DuBois.
Nina Monstwillo and Carrie Clymer collaborated on the section about Madam C.J. Walker.
Leading Adult Educators: Dr. Rachel DuBois and Madam C.J. Walker
Dr. Rachel DuBois
and Madam C.J. Walker are two examples of female professionals who contributed to
the field of adult education. DuBois and Walker had varied backgrounds and
worked in different industries, but both women made significant contributions
during their lives.
Dr. Rachel DuBois
Dr. Rachel DuBois
was an educator, author, lecturer, and organizational leader who focused her
work on pacifism, diversity and improvement of racial and ethnic
relations. She also was an innovator for female contributions to the
field and a progressive thinker ahead of her time.
DuBois was born
Rachel Davis in 1892 into a Quaker farming family in New Jersey.
The Quaker religion had strong beliefs about diversity and equality and believed
that all persons have worth regardless of their gender, race, age, nationality,
religion, or sexual orientation (Robinson, 2009). These Quaker beliefs impacted
her education and life’s work. At a time when few women went to college, DuBois
graduated from Bucknell
University in June 1914
with a degree in natural sciences. In 1915, she married Nathan Steward
DuBois. With few career options for
women with degrees in natural science, DuBois accepted a position as a teacher (Totten
& Peterson, 2007, p. 101). DuBois eventually
earned her doctorate at Columbia University and taught there as well as at New York University (Lambert, 1993).
DuBois’
philosophical perspective began from her religion and childhood
experiences. Her Quaker beliefs taught
her to “see God in every man,” and she spent her childhood doing just that by
playing with Italian and black hired hands (Lal, 2014, p. 18). She even said that these experiences shaped
her lifelong interest in interracial/intercultural relationships. The Great War was the next building block to
her perspective. She became a pacifist
and, guided again by her religion, looked for ways to take action and end the
tensions differences cause (Lal, 2014, p. 18).
She saw those tensions reflected in the United States in urban, mostly
black schools and developed her perspective there. To really make in-roads in differences, she
did not believe in the melting pot but instead in what she called “cultural
democracy” (Lal, 2014, p. 20). To
reduce prejudice, she strove to create “satisfying experiences” in the
classroom by focusing on three tenets: emotional, situational, and
intellectual. Intellectual is to teach
students about the reality of the experiences of and the valuable contributions
of other cultures. Emotional is to make other cultures fun. She would give the students tangible
experiences like food and festivals to make a personal connection of enjoyment
to those cultural activities. Finally,
she developed ways for students to meet and interact with other cultures to put
a face to that culture in a small scale way (Lal, 2014, p. 20). The last piece of her perspective is the
two-ness of being an American born child of an immigrant. On one hand, students tend to try to shed
their culture of origin to be more “American.”
On the other hand, shared minority experiences of discrimination form a
bridge between minority groups. Her
solution of cultural democracy is to accept that all cultures have positive
contributions and that basically reality is chosen, not right or wrong. The structure of society is constantly
changing and adapting. One way to do
that is to incorporate the benefits of having so many cultures in one country
and embrace all of them equally (Lal, 2014, p. 21). Hence, her life’s work was in pursuit of this
idealistic but reasonable goal based on social psychology.
DuBois made
significant contributions to both organizations and thought. She founded the following: the Inter-Cultural
Education Workshop, Fellowship Farm, Workshop for Cultural Democracy,
Livingroom Gatherings and the Atlanta
Dialogue Center
(Lambert, 1993). Many of these were for
educators to learn the approach as well as to conduct research to find “best
practices” for the kinds of questions to ask to enhance tolerance and critical
reflection of personal beliefs (Immigration History, 2004). She also developed group conversations, which
use common experiences to create meaningful interactions that reduce hostility
and promote understanding. For the U.S.
Department of Education, she did a radio show called “Americans All, Immigrants
All” in 1940 and worked with Martin Luther King, Jr. and Margaret Mead
(Lambert, 1993). Dewey would applaud
her progressivism. Everyone else should
applaud her unending faith in humanity and complete optimism about all
cultures.
It is difficult to
find overt articles discussing her impact, but she definitely has made many
ripples in the field of adult education.
One very common structure of adult learning is discussion. Sharing experiences for mutual analysis and
digestion is a cornerstone of many adult education programs. Additionally, people continue to strive for
minority education and valuation. This
movement seems to be gaining traction lately, both with race and
economics. By working in New York City, she had an
ideal population to develop solutions for the tensions that permeate American
culture. Although idealistic, she based
her approach on real people making strides in deeply polarized populations;
scientifically she has validity.
Finally, she seems to have developed a sort of feminine solution that
could be inspirational as a role model for what women can accomplish and the worth
of feminine contributions. Hopefully, policy makers will read her ideas and see
the wisdom and value her approach could give to this society.
As far as adult
education, DuBois’ approach to social problems is immensely applicable
today. People are so polarized in this
society from politics, religion, region, gender, education, and even sports
teams. Somehow it has become a society
where people tell each other not to talk about religion and politics because it
causes passionate disagreements. That
is the heart of the problem. Without
meaningful dialogue, people cannot build tolerance. Agreeing to disagree and not engage is not
the same thing. Tolerance is being able
to interact with people with whom there may be significant differences but to
then see their rights and their humanity as part of the same community rather
than apart from each other. It is
fascinating to read about ideas that could be incredibly useful for the turmoil
Americans continue to face that has only been exacerbated from not having those
conversations.
Madam C.J. Walker
Madam C.J. Walker was a business woman and philanthropist
that became one of the first self-made African American women millionaires. Walker was born Sarah Breedlove on December 23, 1876 in
Delta, Louisiana to former slaves and died on
May 25, 1919 in Irvington,
New York. In the
early 1870s as a black female child in Louisiana,
she did not have the opportunity to attend school. At the young age of seven, Walker was orphaned and began working in the
cotton fields. When she was fourteen, she married her first husband, Moses
McWilliams, and had one daughter named A’Lelia. After the death of her first
husband, she moved to St. Louis,
Missouri where several of her brothers
had become barbers. In St. Louis, Walker worked as a laundress and received help learning
how to read and write through a group of women at her church (Walker, 2012). While in St. Louis,
Walker began to
lose her hair as a result of the lack of plumbing in early 1900s American
homes. During the World’s Fair in St. Louis in
1904, Walker
found “The Great Wonderful Hair Grower,” a product developed by Annie
Turnbo. This hair supplement made a
significant difference with Walker’s
hair, and within a year, she began to sell Turnbo’s product as a local agent
(Gates, 2013). Shortly after becoming a
local agent for Turnbo, Walker started dating
Charles Joseph Walker who was a salesman from St. Louis.
Trying to make a career for herself, Walker
moved to Denver
in 1905 to step away from her boss. Charles
Walker followed her to Denver
where they were married in 1906, and Sarah Breedlove officially changed her
name to Madam C.J. Walker. She developed a product to grow hair and called it
“Madam Walker’s Wonderful Hair Grower.” Walker then founded the Madam C.J. Walker Manufacturing
Company as a way to “sell her treatment, and her door-to-door saleswomen
because familiar figures in the black communities of the U.S. and Caribbean”
(Britannica, 2012). In 1910, Walker decided to
move her company to Indianapolis,
Indiana where she also
established a laboratory and a beauty school.
Over the years and after proving herself to be an
enterprising young woman, Walker continued to
work on her education by hiring a private tutor (Walker, 2012). Considering that Walker continued to show an interest in
enhancing her own education throughout her life, it makes sense that along with
the success of her business, she provided educational opportunities for other
women. After her time in Denver, she founded Lelia
College in Pittsburg,
“which offered a course in her methods” (Indiana,
2014).
Walker not
only focused on business opportunities, but worked on creating educational
opportunities which might not have been available to African Americans. As Walker continued to build
her business, she also worked on establishing the Madame C.J. Walker School of
Beauty Culture throughout the country.
Other than domestic or manual labor jobs, this was at a time in history
when black women would have had very limited career options.
As part of her beauty schools, Walker worked on creating knowledgeable
agents who could sell her products. However, it is also noted that “the
function of the Walker agents throughout the country was not merely to sell
Walker products, but to educate customers in hygiene and in the value of good
personal appearance” (Indiana, 2014). To
keep her agents loyal to her company, Walker
offered incentives for agents who promoted the company’s values. Walker
stated, “I am not merely satisfied in making money for myself” (Gates,
2013). In addition to her work with her
agents, Walker established
the National Negro Cosmetics Manufacturers Association in 1917.
Throughout her successful career, Walker demonstrated an understanding of her
position of leadership. Walker began public speaking and used this
opportunity to build confidence, encourage education, and create opportunities
for civil rights activism of those around her.
Madam Walker was an active philanthropist whose financial contributions
often included the beneficiaries of African American educational foundations
such as Mary McLeod Bethune’s Daytona Educational and Industrial
School for Negro Girls in Florida and the National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People (Indiana,
2014).
Walker’s success shows how one person can
have a significant impact on a large number of people. With her products, she recognized a problem,
developed a solution, and then shared the solution with others. That solution
led to monetary success for Walker
but also to careers, training, and learning opportunities for other women. Her
success as an adult educator can serve as motivation for other adult educators.
A simple idea for an adult education program or opportunity can be successful
and can have a far reaching impact.
Photograph
of Madam C.J. Walker’s students:
Photograph of graduates of the
Walker School of Beauty Culture in St.
Louis:
Table 1. Summary of Leading Adult
Educators
|
Rachel DuBois
|
Madam C.J. Walker
|
Time Period
|
1892-1993
|
1876-1919
|
Background
|
Pacifism, diversity, and
racial and ethnic relations
|
Diversity, business woman
and entrepreneur,
promoted education for
women and minorities
|
Profile
|
Married, earned Bachelors
at Bucknell University
and a doctorate at Columbia,
worked as a teacher and professor
|
Married twice, one daughter
No formal education, but
sought informal education opportunities
|
Contributions
|
Founded the Inter-cultural
Education Workshop, Fellowship Farm, Livingroom Gatherings and the Atlanta Dialogue Center
Developed Group Conversations
Worked with Martin Luther
King, Jr. and Margaret Mead
|
Entrepreneur of hair
products and cosmetics
Founded the Madam C.J.
Walker Manufacturing Company
Founded Lelia College
in Pittsburg
Established training
programs, the Madame C.J. Walker School of Beauty Culture, and the National
Negro Cosmetics Manufacturers Association
|
Impact
|
Discussions
Minority education and
valuation
Role model for women
|
Leader
Created employment
opportunities for women, particularly African American women
Realized the importance of
learning, training, and continuous education
Philanthropist
|
Implications
|
Importance of meaningful
dialogues and tolerance of others’ opinions
|
No idea is too small
A simple idea can lead to
success and can impact a large number of people
Training and continuous
learning are important
|
References
Bundles,
A. (n.d.). Madam C.J. Walker: A brief biographical essay. Retrieved from
http://www.madamcjwalker.com/bios/madam-c-j-walker/
Gates,
Jr., H. (2013, June 24). Madam Walker, the first black American woman to be a self-
made millionaire. Retrieved from
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/african-americans-many-
rivers-to-cross/history/100-amazing-facts/madam-walker-the-first-black-american-woman-to-be-a-self-made-millionaire/
Immigration History Research
Center (2004). Bureau for Intercultural Education,
records, ca. 1940-1960. University of Minnesota. Retrieved
from http://www.ihrc.umn.edu/research/vitrage/all/bo/GENbie.htm
Indiana
Historical Society. (2014). Madam C.J. Walker (1867 - 1919) Papers, 1910 -
1980 [Data
file]. Retrieved from
http://www.indianahistory.org/our-collections/collection-guides/madam-cj-walker-papers.pdf/?searchterm=Madame%20C.J.%20WalkerWalker,%20Madam%20C.J.
Lal, S. (2004, May). 1930s multiculturalism: Rachel Davis DuBois and the
Bureau for Intercultural Education. The Radical Teacher, 69, 18-22. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/20710241?seq=5
Lambert, B. (1993, April 2). Rachel
D. DuBois, 101, educator who promoted value of diversity.
The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/1993/04/02/obituaries/rachel-d-dubois-101-educator-who-promoted-value-of-diversity.html
Robinson, B.A. (2009). Quaker
beliefs and practices. Retrieved from
http://www.religioustolerance.org/quaker2.htm
Totten, S. & Pedersen, J.E.
(2007). Addressing social issues in the
classroom and beyond: The
pedagogical
efforts of pioneers in the field. Charlotte:
NC: IAP.
Walker, Madam C.J. (2012). In Britannica concise encyclopedia.
Retrieved from
http://proxy.bsu.edu/login?url=http://search.credoreference.com.proxy.bsu.edu/content/entry/ebconcise/walker_madam_c_j/0
